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R. D. CONNOR.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DRAWING WIRE.

APPLICATION men res. a. 192:.

Reissued Oct-.11, 1921. 15,205.

4 SHEETSSHEET l.

R. D. CONNOR.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DRAWING WIRE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3. I921.

[ieissned Oct. 11, 1921.

v w w m Arm r A m m fl R. 0. common. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DRAWING WIRE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB 3. 192].

- Reissued Oct. 11, 1921.

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R. D. CONNOR.

METHOD AND APPARATUS ron DRAWING WIRE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 3. I921.

Reissued Oct. 11, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrics.

mm! DUNCAN OONIN'OR, OF WITHING'ION, -HANCHESTEB, ENGLAND;

mnon AND APPARATUS FOR DRAWING WIRE- Specification ot Reissued Letters Patent.

Original No. 1,199,111, dated leptember 12, 1918, Serial No. 57,905, .flletl October 22, 1915. Application for reissue filed February 8, 1921. Serial No. 442,914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT DUNCAN CON- NOR, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and resident of Withington, Manchester, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Drawing Wire, of which the'following is a specification.

The present invention relates to the art of drawing wire, the same involving important de artures from the methods practised and t e apparatus employed in previ one wire drawing operations. The improvements are particularly shown and described in relation to wire drawing by the continuous method, though obviously applicable and useful in wire drawing operations where only a single draft is required.

In continuous wire drawing as heretofore practised, the machines provide a series of drawing blocks or drums, one associated with each die,-each block carrying a definite and unvarying number of turns of wire and serving as a capstan from which the wire passes ofi tangentially at the exact speed which the rotation of said block permits it to unwind. The nature of the operation as heretofore carried out is such that the actual amount or weight of wire passing onto and off of any block in a given time must always be almost exactly the same as that passing onto and off of every other block in the same time; in other words,

- it has invariably been the practice to increase the peripheral speeds of successive blocks as closely as possible in proportion to the elongation of the wire between said blocks; all previous efforts in the art have been concentrated on the development of mechanism for establishing and maintaining as closely as possible the speed relations above set forth, with the end in view of causing each block in a given time to wind up no more and no less wire than 15 unwound from the preceding block in the same time. 1

The present invention involves radical departures from the principles that are characteristic of all previous continuous wire drawing operations, in that it eliminates entirely the necessity for accurately, or even approximately, proportiomng the peripheral speeds of the blocks to the elongation of the wire, and also in that it wholly discards the mode of operation common to all previbenc s'howin rotating the ous continuous operations of having each block handle in a given time the same amount or weight of wire as every other block. According to the present invention,\the drawmg block or blocks operate not only as capstansto pull the wire through the precedlng die, but also serve as storage devices, or, accumulators, for slack wire, which may be removed therefrom b uncoiling, as distlnguished from-unwinding; in this way, when drawing wire by the continuous method, the reduction accomplished by any die ma be either greater or less than that implie by the relative speeds of the blocks preceding and following; also, with either continuous or single block drawing, the wire as accumulated can be utilized, without any intermediate handling, in any kind of wire forming machine,passing directly to such machine from the drawing block.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the s ecification, in view of which disclosure t e underlying principle of the, invention will be understood by those skilled in the art, irrespective of the concrete structure and arrangement selected for illustrative purposes,

wherein Y Figure l is a side elevation showing a com lete machine constructed according to the nvention.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the first drawing block and part of the table, drawn to a larger scale.

Fi .3 is across sectional view through one of the drawing blocks.

Fig. 4 is a sectional plan on the line 4, 4 of Fig. 3.

Fi 5 1s a side view, partly in section,

Reissued Oct. 11, 1921. 1

showing the drive to the'last block on an enlarged scale. I

Fi 6 is a dis rammatic plan of the draw the train of gear wheels for rawing blocks. Fig. .7 is a perspective view of a combined die holder and trough to receive the lubricant or other treating material.

Each drawing block comprises the block roper a, adapted to receive a sufiicient nu mr of convolutions to cause the tractive efiort of the block to draw the wire through the die, and having a reel-like entension adapted to receive the drawn wire.

shown, the latter consists of columns b the first three being'formed with a hollow trolled, y the stud g.

A table or .draw bench his formed to receive a series of drawing blocks, corresponding in number to the desired number of reductions, four being shown on the drawings,

shaft or pillar as above described, while the "last block 2' is adapted to receive the finished 7 wire. The driving shaft 7' is journaled in the bench and is provided with fast and loose pulleys k and Z respectivel to receive the driving belt. Upon the s aft 7' is, a beveled wheel m which meshes with another beveled wheel n secured to and ada ted to drive the shaft 0 of the block i. nother gear wheel p on the shaft 0 drives a gear wheel 9 on the preceding block, through an idler wheel 1', each block being I provided with a corresponding gear whee g and receiving motion from the succeeding block through an idler wheel, the gear ratios being such that the peripheral-speed of the blocks, increases fromthe initial block upward, as hereinafter explained;v

Dies sare provided for each block, said dies preferably being positioned by a holder t formed in one with or secured to a trough or the like u for receiving the usual lubricant or other treating material. Beneath the row of hollow drawing blocks and in line therewith is a shaft 0 mounted in the table It and adapted to receive guide pulleys w, one of which is located beneath the axis of each of said blocks. These pulleys w, in conjunction with a second series of guide pulleys m, mountedin brackets 3 on the top of the table, are arranged to guide ,the wire from off each drawing block to the next suck ceeding die, tensioning or braking devices being provided to. prevent slippage of the convolutions on portion a, and to regulate the supply of wire drawn off the blocks.

Such a tensioning device is conveniently formed by an extensible chain band 2 located in a groove 1 around the dome c, an adjustable spring 2 being provided'to govvern the tenslon.

Draw tongs 3, operated by a cable from the drum 4, are (provided a for the initial drawing, and hen les 5 5 are conveniently arranged for manipulatin the belt fork from either Izend of the mac ine. The 0 era 10!] of the device is as follows: The un rawn wire is earned on a swift or creel located at-the forward end of the mablock and the end of the wire secured by the I jaw f in the respective vise. Upon themachine being started, the wire is drawn by the first block until a sufficient number of convolutions are drawn on to it to insure a grip, when the vise is releasedand the end of the wire passed up under the s ring hand brake 2, over the domeo, down tli tube 0 and around the respective guide ulleys w, w to the'next succeedin die. he

latterjs preferably placed in t e last die a holder for ease of manipulation by the draw tongs, but upon the release of the draw tongs, the die is removed to its respective holder and the cycle of operations repeated as with the first draw block, each succeeding draw block being started in a similar manner until the last is reached, upon which the drawn wire gathers, as will be apparent from the drawings.

Withmechanism'constructed and arranged as above described, the'neces'sity for accuracy in the several dies is eliminated, as well as the necessity for increasing the peripheral speeds of the successive drawing blocks in proportion to the elongation of the wire,-

both of which are essential factors in all previous continuous wire fvdrawing" operations. Instead, according to the present invention, the gear ratios of the drawing blocks are normally such that the peripheral speed of each succeedin block 1s greater than that of the preceding block by an amount rather less than is sufficient to take ofl the wire from -said recedin block, due allowance being made or the e ongation of the same. Because of this arrangement, in

\ volving a peripheral speed-increase for each successive block that need bear no definite relation whatsoever to the elongation of the wire, 'it follows that the amount or weight of wire that isdrawn onto and wound upon each block in a given period of time may be different from, and preferably will normally exceed the actual amount or wei ht of wire storage device, the amount of wire accumurough the r demands its block are not satisfied by I s ring, 11 e.

lated thereon being increased or decreased in accordance with the demandsof the next succeeding block. To illustrate, let it be assumed that one of the dies 8 becomes unduly worn and enlarged in the drawing operation; when this occurs in the ordinary type of continuous wire'drawing machine, I: e accumulative tension on the wire will soon efiect a breakage, for the dreason that in the absence of the redetermined elongation accom lished by t e die in question, the the s eed at which thewire is unwound tangentially from the preceding block. On the other hand, according to the present invention, the wire which has been gradually ac-- cumulated and which is loosely held in storage on such preceding block, 15 amply suffiment to care for the extraordinary demand of the next succeeding block, when the latters die becomes worn. ditions, the deficit is sup lied by a gradual uncoilin ,(as distinguished from unwinding) of t e topmost convolutions or turns on the colums "b, it being obvious that this result is made possible by the fact that the wire comes ofi the block, nottangentially, as in the ordinary wire drawing, but in a path that permits it to be withdrawn from the block without regard to the fixed rate of rotation of the latter. Under these conditions, with the wire'being withdrawn from the top of columns b at arate faster than the block can unwind it, there occurs a relative backward peripheral movement of the point where the tension or braking action of the band 2 is eifective. Obviously, with either continuous or single-block wire drawing, this method of removing the wire from a block allows the wire drawing apparatus to be connected up directly with any kind of wire formin machine, such as a mail,

or chain-making machine, or the Such coordination of mechanism cannot be secured using any previous type of wire drawing apparatus, because of the impossibility of synchronizing the operation of the latter with the operation of the machine in which the drawn wire is used; by the present invention, however, the necessity for synchronism is avoided, since thewire can be delivered from the block, either continuously or intermittently, at any speed made necessary by the character of the formin machine wherein it is utilized.

%t is to be noted that the mode of operation of the present invention is made pos-' sible by two things,-first, a construction that emits of uncoiling from the top of each block, so that the rate of delivery of wire may be either faster or slower than the fixed peripheral speed imparted to the block, and second, the maintenance upon the wire held in storage on each block, of a slight Under such contension'or friction, just suflicient to overcome anyvtendency to slip on the capstan. In the particular mechanism herein selected for illustrative purposes, the first of these functions is served by the ,delivery of the wire fromeach block in a substantially axial direction, and the second by the employment on each block of the peripheral ten sion band a; obviously, the invention is not in any sense limited to the use of these illustrated expedients, but is susceptible of such variations therefrom as come within the scope of the a pended claims.

. As the supp y of wire is exhausted at the feeding end, there is ample time for the machine minder to refill the swift or creel and prepare for the next operation-before the wire is exhausted from all the drums. If desired, a trough 7 may be suspended below the guide pulleys w containing suitable treating material when it is desired to use the wet process of drawing.

It' will be observed that no slipping, pull- 7 ing or grinding takes place on the drawing blocks, consequently no loss of driving power is occasioned or undue stresses or strains imparted to the wire, thereby permitting the machine to be run at relatively high speeds, and allowing the wire to be drawn down more than heretofore without intermediate annealing. Further, by reason of the wire'being caused to accumulate between each pair of dies, it is cooled before reaching the next die, the rotation of the block materially assisting in the effect.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for drawing tinuous method, comprising, in combination, a series ofdies, a series of drawing blocks whose speed ratios are such as normally to procure a gradual accumulation of the wire upon each block, and means permittin the withdrawal of the accumulated wire rom each block at speeds different from the pe-. ripheral speed of said block.

2. Apparatus for drawing wire through a series of reductions continuously in one operation, comprising aseries of drawing blocks, com lemental' dies, means for rotating all the looks at different peripheral speeds,'the

wire by the con- -increase in the peripheral speed of each sucichsaid wire is led I to the neat succeeding die, substantially as qwithdrawal of wire from sai described.

4. In apparatus for drawin wire by the continuous method, a series o dies, a series of drawing blocks, each providin an axial delivery passage for the wire, a ome' head on each block b which the wire is guided from the peripli ery,v of said block to said axial passage, a peripheral tension device on each block, and means -for guiding the wire as delivered axially from each block to the next succeeding die.

5. In apparatus for drawin wire by the continuous method, a series 0 dies, a series of drawing blocks, means on each block for permitting the delivery of wire therefrom without regard to'the speed of rotation of said block, and tension means operable on the wireas it leaves the periphery of each block.

6. In apparatus for drawin wire by the continuous method, a series 0 dies, a series of rotating blocks, means permittin the delivery of wire from each of said b ocksby the uncoiling of the, convolutions thereon, and means on each block. for maintainin a slight tension upon the wire carried there y.

7. In apparatus for drawing wire bythe v continuous method, a series of drawing blocks whereon'the wire is normally woun 'up at a faster rate than it is delivered therefrom, means for withdrawing the wire wound on each block by movementmver the end of said block, and means for preventing slippage of the wire on said blocks. 7 I 8. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with wire drawin mentalities including ablock and die, of actuating means for imparting rotation to said block, means for obtaining the passage of wire onto said block at a rate corresponding to the peripheral speed imparted by said actuating means, and means ermitting the block, during its rotation at the speed imparted by Sai 3 r block, whereby the rate of delive instrus.

actuating. means, at rates diiferent' said device for the wirein process of reduction,

and meansfpermitting theincrease or decrease of the amount of wire held in storage on each block in accordance with the demands of the next succeeding block,

11. In' theflart of drawing wire by the continuous method, the improvement which consists in withdrawing the wire from each block by movement over the end of said I from said block is unafiected by the spee tation thereof, and maintaining on the wire carried by each block a slight tension, whereby the wire is wound onthe block at the peripheral speed of the latter.

12. The improvement in the art of draw ing wire by the continuous method, which consists in rotating the drawing'blocks at P O-- cure gradual accumulation of the wire on such peripheralspeeds as will normally each block, and withdrawing the wire from each block without regard to the speed of rotation of same.

13-. In the art of drawing wire, the improvement which consists in delivering the wire from the drawing that permits of uncoilin whereby said delivery -is unafi'ected b t e blocks rotation, and maintaining su cient tension on the 'WlIG to Dated t is 13th day of anuary, 1921:

' ROBERT DUNCAN CONNOR.

a series of drawing of ro- 1 block in a direction a reventslippfa e on said block. 

